Is One Direction’s Harry Styles Still a Member of His Old Band?

Much as some of us might like to believe that the members of our favorite boy bands and girl groups were brewed up in a petri dish before taking over our YouTube queues and iPod playlists, they really did have lives before they became famous -- and that includes Harry Styles of One Direction.

In fact, Styles had a whole other band before he achieved notoriety as a member of the group whose third-place finish on the U.K. edition of 'X Factor' propelled them to international stardom, and although he hasn't spoken with his former bandmates in months, they're still together.

The band, named White Eskimo, was recently profiled by the Manchester Evening News, with drummer-turned-frontman Will Sweeny looking back on Styles' 'X Factor' audition by saying, "I just thought it would be an experience. I never thought he would leave. In fact, Harry is still a member of White Eskimo, because he never told us he was leaving."

Styles' membership in both bands aside, White Eskimo doesn't share much of One Direction's musical DNA -- the Manchester Evening News report describes them as a "punk pop" band -- although Sweeny does claim that prior to becoming an Eskimo, Styles didn't have any grand pop star ambitions. "Harry said, ‘I don’t want to sing,’ but I didn't give him a choice, I pushed him to sing," he explained.

But sadly, their connection hasn't translated into much in the way of additional exposure for Styles' former band. "I know that if just three or four times he said ‘Listen to my old band’ it would give us exposure to millions of people," insisted Sweeny. "We have asked him. I last spoke to him a year ago. He doesn't see me anymore."